Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/4052

Title:

SURVEY OF THE MAJOR FACTORS INFLUENCING HOUSEHOLD DEMAND FOR SCHOOLING IN RURAL BALE ZONE

Authors:

SEYOUM, WODAJO

Advisors:

Ato Ayalew Shibeshi

Keywords:

household demandSCHOOLING IN RURAL BALE ZONE

Copyright:

May-1999

Date Added:

27-Nov-2012

Publisher:

AAU

Abstract:

The main purpose of this study was to identify the major
factors that influence household demand for schooling in rural
Bale Zone. In order to fulfill this purpose, basic questions
were raised regarding the utilization of school resources, the
background of the children who mostly lack schooling opportunity,
the factors that determine school participation in general and
difference in schooling between sexes in particular.
The study was carried out in eight rural primary schools and
17 peasant associations that use these schools. The sources of
information were 250 household heads (100 household heads having
at least one schooling child, 100 household heads having no
schooling child and 50 household heads of drop-out children)
eight school directors, 98 teachers, 497 students and 50 nonschooling
primary school-age children. Household heads' and nonschooling
children's interviews and teachers', directors 'and
students' questionnaires were the instruments used to ga ther
information for the study. The data obtained were analysed
through qualitative method, percentages, correlation coefficient
and average rank order. Based on the analysis made, the
following major findings were obtained.
There is u-nder utilization of teachers and an indication of crowdedness of classrooms in some of the surveyed schools. The
findings of the study also has shown that, the demand of the
households for schooling in the surveyed areas is ~ which was
indicated by low and fluctuating enrollment growth race and high
drop-out. Drop-out is more severe at lower grades and for girls.
In general, females have low school participation because of the
low demand of the households for schooling them due to high home
duties on females, parents' perception of low employment prospect
for educated females and marriage of girls.
Majori ty of the students are older for their grades, and
there are more over-age males than females. Children from the
household heads who speak Oromo Language as their mother tongue
have a relatively low school participation than children from
Amharic mother tongue households when compared wi th the
proportion of the households by mother tongue. Muslim children
in general and Muslim girls in particular are the other groups of children who are educationally deprived. In addition to this,
Muslim household heads are found to have high preference for
their children to attend Koran school than government school, and
there is high Koran school attendance among Muslim children.
~~
Economic conditions are the main factors determining household
demand for schooling. Family wealth and distance from school
have high influence on school participation, while household
heads' educational level has weak relation with family
educational consumption.
Based on the findings obtained, the following
recommendations are made. Future enrollment in most of the
schools must be preceded by the construction of some additional
classrooms, or operating with double shift is another option. In
order to attract more children to school and to reduce drop-out,
the present full-day school time need to be reduced to one
session and change of school schedule according to local
situation are required. Other than this, improvement of economic
condition of the society, persuading community about the value of
education and initiating literacy program are suggested to
increase school participation. To increase females' school
participation, the recruitment and training of female teachers in
primary schools and giving priority for females in job employment
are suggested.